Revolution / Hiroshi Sugimoto

P. 6-7 Foreword by Armin Zweite

Contrary to photography’s conventional function as a means of reproducing “reality”, these works are pared down to the minimum in formal terms and thus more like visualized concepts through which to explore the fundamentals of life: space and time, past and present, art and science, imagination and reality. Moreover, their arresting beauty and aura cannot fail to leave a lasting impression on all those who see them.

… an oeuvre that stands out on account of its superb craftsmanship and the almost magical effect of its powerful aesthetic presence. 

“Art is technique: a means by which to materialize the invisible realm of the mind,” explains Sugimoto. “As such, my art is an emblematic rendering of part of my mind in visible form - or perhaps we might say, samplings from my consciousness. Over my many years as an artist, I have endeavored to hone my technique.”

What Sugimoto visualizes so emphatically in these new works is ultimately the presence of the aesthetic.

P. 10

For a long time it was my calling to stand in cliffs and gaze at the horizon, where the sea touches the sky. The horizon is not a straight line but a segment of a great arc. One day, standing atop a lone island peak in a remote sea, the horizon encompassing my entire field of vision, for a moment it felt as if I was floating above an immeasurable void. But then, as I viewed the horizon encircling me, I had a distinct sensation of the earth as a watery globe, a clear vision of the horizon not as an endless expanse but the edge of an oceanic sphere. 

P. 11

Obviously, the scientific views and laws we currently believe will falter and be superceded in due course. Centuries from now people will consider us as unenlightened as those who lived in the geocentric age - if humanity survives until then, that is. There remains, however, a great divide between comprehending the world and being able to explain what we ourselves are. And even then, what we can explain of the world is far less than what we cannot - though people tend be more attracted by the unexplained. In all this, I somehow feel we are nearing an era when religion and art will once again cast doubts upon science, or else an era when things better seen through to a scientific conclusion will bow to religious judgement.

P.20

Sugimoto’s pictorial strategy could be evidence of Bergson’s notion that memory is formed during cognition. As demonstrated by Wilhelm Roskamm, this refers to Bergson’s theory of time and his definition of the present. “If we consider the passing of time, Bergson paradoxically states that it is only the present that passes, while the past has not passed but perpetuates and has a continuing impact. The past repeats itself each and every moment in time, it continuously alters itself and its structure as its extends to the future. Past and present, materiality and immateriality, weave a virtual image. This virtual image is the transforming repetition of the past as well as the recollection of the present. The fact that the present does not repeat the past is due to the fact that the current movement quasi selects this virtual image, and that the weight of the past on the present results in a transformation and alteration/compression. In that sense, the virtual image is not a place of repetition but one of difference.

P.23

The search for the origins of forms of representation, which allows fossils and calotype to be compared as such, is related to Sugimoto’s seascapes inasmuch as they are also supposed to be an inherent manifestation of fundamental human experiences, which Sugimoto sees as removed from time. Faced with the horizon and the expansiveness of the sea and the sky, Sugimoto argues that his experience differs in no way from that of early humans. He declares this original experience of being as the origin of universal consciousness and his personal existence.

P.25

Sugimoto is not concerned with aesthetic issues, but rather with matters of representation, images and diagrams.

P.26

“Art is techniques: a means by which to materialize the invisible realm of the mind. As such, my art is an emblematic rendering of part of my mind in visible form - or perhaps one might say, sampling’s from my consciousness.”

P.27-28

He does not use photography for photograph’s sake but increasingly uses the mediums to examine its inherent possibilities and to convert the potential of the past into the present, give it a new place and, if possible, expand it … frequently contrarily to its original character.

P.28

A continuous horizon line determines their structure. All in all a classically balanced composition in four clearly differential parallel layers, whereby the topmost layer with its gently modulated quality takes up half the frame.

P.29

At any rate, the photograph evokes a sense of remoteness and stillness. The pale milky sheen of the layer of clouds accentuates this feeling, although it remains to be seen whether there is a boundless expanse of ocean beneath this mist.

The suggestion of distance and transcendence, however, is lost in prolonged viewing. The photographic quality of the image becomes more and more apparent and begins to dominate the graphic character of the image, thus displaying the illusory character of the work, indexical elements diminish while aesthetic ones begin to inform our perception.

P.31

The series comprising fifteen images is based on photographs taken from 1986-97. They were produced in irregular order, most of them in 1990. In 2011 and 2012 they were enlarged to measure ninety-four by forty seven inches, a double square format. The night shots are, however turned clockwise by ninety degrees, a perplexing manipulation that is not immediately obvious in some works.

P.32

This starting point for Sugimoto’s works is easily recognized. They are all nighttime photographs of the moon above the ocean. The subjects are water, sky, the celestial body, the horizon, clouds and reflections, although not all of them are discernible at any one time. Sea and sky frequently merge seamlessly; the line of the horizon is sometimes only visible in part. Apparently, Sugimoto rarely, or in some cases never presented the original images in public; he possibly even did not produce enlargements at the time. The decision in favor of the large format and to tilt the image from horizontal to vertical was only made a few months ago.

P.33

The term “revolution” is mentioned again and again in context with the ideas and photographs of Conceptual Forms, especially when describing complex curve progressions that are impossible to represent in a Euclidean, three-dimensional space. The curvatures expressed by mathematical formulae exhibit either a hyperbolic, parabolic or an elliptical course. They demonstrate that the physical-mathematical space can no longer be imagined as flat or synchronous but as the sum of spiral tracks leading from top of bottom, front to back, and left to right. The purpose is no longer the determination of lengths, angles, and distances in a box-like  space but the formulaic recording of highly complex yet continuous rotations and movements of faces.

P. 34

The question remains, however, of what Sugimoto is trying to achieve with this rotation. His result is fundamentally different from the examples mentioned above, insofar as the resulting images basically do not change their meaning. They are essentially moonlit seascapes, yet they forfeit everything their regular landscape format might evoke. The ninety-degree tilt annihilates the Romantic atmosphere, cancels out any movement in depth, and indeed, the images appear that, almost abstract, the more so when the horizon, originally separating the ocean from the sky, emerges as a sharp vertical line, bifurcating the images.

P. 35

The transformation of the horizontal into vertical amounts to a radical cataclysm in Sugimoto’s work insofar as we are refused the familiar order of top and bottom, of left and right, and the original context of a view onto the ocean, the sea, and the moon is denied.

P. 38

The bodily aspect of our perception appears repealed. This is an experience rather alien to a European consciousness oriented toward Maurice Merleau-Ponty. What makes Sugimoto’s art so fascinating is his rendering this mode of perception comprehensible in striking pictures. And he succeeds in doing so through the extraordinary aesthetic presence of his works.

穿越撒哈拉 by謝長青

P.38

唯有透過差異性，才能真正認識自己身而為人的輪廓與存在的重量。

旅行，賦予我們機會與任務，了解自己與世界。

P. 42

在旅行中，我最常閱讀的是小說，而不是旅遊指南。小說家總能以別出心戴的方式，為讀者只是通往未知的道路，而旅遊指南，則將所有的驚喜稀釋為理所當然。

『…遊客通常在數週，或數個月後匆匆趕回家; 但旅人不屬於任何地方，總是用幾年的時間，緩慢地從地球的一端，移動到另一端。』

P. 55

成為宇宙主宰的奧林匹亞神族，將亞特拉斯流放到大地邊緣，懲罰他永生永世扛著天空。

P. 56

年少時讀希臘神話，總覺得亞特拉斯好傻好天真，為什麼不放開罪責，卸下沈重天球，一走了之呢？天如果真的塌下來，也是生靈塗炭的局面，為什麼要一個人受苦呢？

P. 58

犯了錯的人，未必都會遭受懲罰，但最會在靈魂中生根，以超乎想像的方式，改變原本的『我』。也許，亞特拉斯在接受處罰後，在沈重的負荷中，感受『存在』的意義。責任讓無足輕重的我們與世界發生連結，也讓虛無縹緲的自我詢問，終於找到了答案。

P. 76 

在群山之間，是不可能寂靜的，山巒疊嶂的跌岩起伏，宛如咆哮的波形振幅。但在沙漠之中，視線投向八荒四方，生命的存在，沒有呼喊，沒有回聲，只剩下無動於衷。

P. 94

不管我問什麼問題，得到的答案都差不多大同小異，…

總之，我不想在這座進不去也出不來的語言峽灣擱淺，在旅途上，有些我們永遠無法參透明白的人事物，還是讓它煙沒在無語的沈默中，更為恰當。

P. 142-143

『… 定居生活是文明發展最後一個階段，也是道德衰退的起點 … 很顯然的，遊牧民比都會人更接近良苦。』這段論述中，隱含了亞伯與該隱二元對立的文化觀點。顯然的，殺害牧羊人弟弟的該隱，就是農耕文化嫉妒自由牧民最糟糕的示範。

… 『石油的發現摧毀了他們的生活，浪跡荒野的美好生活注定消失，一去不復返。』

西方人在沙漠遊牧民身上所看見的『自由』，事實上，只是他們自己從充滿禮教約束的文明社會中解放出來後，所感受到自我快樂的投射。

P.167

我懷抱著詩與浪漫走入撒哈拉，卻發現真實且殘酷的生命真相。

P.173

在撒哈拉流浪的這段期間，沙漠以絕對的遼闊與無可抗拒的美征服了我。野性與自由，是貫穿著這萬里路不變的主題。但是真正改變我的，並不是風花雪月的浪漫想像，而是沙漠它純粹、刻苦、嚴峻，被現代世界排擠的秉性，以自己未曾察覺的方式，一點一滴地滲進我充滿裂隙的靈魂。

在這座人口過剩的星球，撒哈拉不利於文明發展的荒瘠，蠻橫無情地將我們排拒在外。

但正因為它是如此地艱難險阻，才能保有數百萬年的寂靜。除了真正的沙漠之外，我們永遠無法意識到相同的寂靜。

只有真正穿越過沙漠的人，才可能了解其中的意義。

P.196

二十一世紀的關鍵問題，並不是像馬克斯所言，掌握生產工具的掌握世界; 也不如佛洛伊德所揭示，人類心靈運作主窄一切。邱吉爾相信，『在一個國家強行侵入私領域的年代，如何捍衛個人的自己』才是當務之急。終其一生，邱吉爾對抗法西斯與共產主義，爭取今天我們視為理所當然的自由。

P.201

有時候，宗教會阻止人們踏上追尋靈性的旅程。求性、金錢、權力的普通人，才是宗教服務的對象。那些勇敢探索真實、真理與真相的靈性行者，反而無法用教會那陳腔濫調來打發。

P.202

從文明角度觀察，靈性之路向來是屬於個人的，不利於社會發展，修持靈性的個體，在必要時離群索居，透過孤獨，探究內需求。但社會文明的進步，人與人之間的維繫，需要契約，需要目標，對於生命的不確定，是存在主義是無可容忍的惡。

P.227-228

我來自一座多雨的島嶼，在沙漠流浪的這段期間，快要忘記語所帶來的悸動。

… 『與不僅有聲音，還有氣味。』…

在我成長的城市，與聞起來像是剛澆灌的水泥，有時則像是蒸騰的瀝青。郊區的雨有黏滯的霉味，或是厚重的土味。夏季午後的雷雨，讓空氣中有射擊靶場的子彈煙哨味，森林的雨有潮濕樹葉的水潤甜味，來自大海的雨則是退潮的沙洲，帶有粗獷刺激的鹹味。在西薩哈拉，大雨過後的空氣有松木灼燒的芬芳，在極圈附近的冰島，雨則發散出清冷堅硬的礦物調香氣。

P. 243

旅行最迷人的所在，就是在於它的不確定性。

原來，生命的圓滿與缺憾，都是不可取代的美好。

P.260

自由太可怕了，不曾經歷過的人，無法為自己的未來擔起責任。逃避現實與責任的人，其實也是逃避自由嗎？當我無度揮霍自己的青春時，那算不算是逃避呢？

P. 262

但在親眼見證動搖帝國的十災，親身經歷被分開的大海後，離開埃及的希伯來人，竟然什麼都沒學到，不僅摩西失望，其實，我也感到不可思議。

原來，人世間有些事，光靠奇蹟是不夠的。

『因為尋找，所以看見』by 謝哲青

序 01

香港導演林奕華如此定義旅行：『不是一個人去的，不叫旅行，旅行的目的是重新學習如何做一個人，由不怕孤單開始，所以旅行就是修行… 』職場與家庭之外的第三場所，是『旅行』，這是孤獨練習的好時機。

P. 74-75

我最鍾愛的兩位小說家海明威與三島由紀夫; 是我年少時特別鍾愛的小說家。他們各自以文學及生命，深刻全是人性內在的瘋狂與渴望。不過，一開始時並不是因為欣賞他們的作品，而是一知半解地聽過他們的傳奇：海明威打過仗、攀登非洲最高的山、在大草原獵殺獅子、抓最大的魚、轟轟烈烈的戀愛、摔飛機、得過炭疽病與諾貝爾文學獎。男人與大自然搏鬥的極致，海明威大都做過。另一位被稱為 『東洋海明威』的三島由紀夫也不遑多讓，除了也是大文豪外，在戲劇界也占有一席之地，集編、導、演於一身，出版個人全裸寫真、搭船出海環遊世界、偶爾參加刺激的賽車。男人想做的是，海明威與三島都嘗試過，更重要的是，他們為人生提供了某種浪漫，某種追求，某種放手一搏的快感與自由。我讀他們的書，認真地以為，青春就該如此地驕縱蠻橫、放浪形骸。

P. 81

但人生是這樣的，有些是因為太近，因為年輕，容易對喜愛的人事物，陷入不假思索的盲從，不明事理的崇拜; 也因為太近，因為年輕，所以看不到缺點與局限。不過當你我越過歲月的里程碑，生命閱歷也更加成熟圓融時，這些事就很難再糊弄或誘惑我們的目光。

P. 85

人總是慣性地選擇，對自己最舒適的生活型態，並不自覺地深陷其中，這可以說是身而為人的原始動物性。當你我深陷其中時，雖然眼前不思進取的日子多少會讓人感到心虛，但比起大刀闊斧地改變，這樣躺在泥濘裡打滾，多少還是比較愜意。

P. 123

… 我們忍氣吞聲、我們默默承擔，放棄想做的工作，放棄想做的夢，害怕讓別人失望，讓他們傷心。但最後，我們一定會聽到：『我沒要求你這樣做！』『我以為你心甘情願！』『你本來就可以去做自己喜歡的事！』『是你自己決定這樣做的！』傷心失望的，不會是別人，一定是我們自己。大部分人的生活，都是在『權衡』得失，『計算』利害。週刊、雜誌最喜歡圈圈叉叉的優勝劣敗表，來量化我們所看見的世界。的確，這是極為簡便的方式，讓你我在第一時間就留下深刻印象，但形式上的化簡，也削去更多的複雜極可能。我們怎麼定義世界，世界就如何定義你我，就在我們喜孜孜地數落著高低勝敗時，世界則以更殘酷的眼光打量我們的卑微。

P. 124

… 英國哲學家羅素說：『異物感對工作層面有益，對人際關係則有害。』

義務與責任是世界的一體兩面，如果大家都不重視義務感，我們的世界就會變成一個無責任的沉淪社會，義務感是你我在責任感，那麼世間的一切將只剩下對價關係。

P. 152

大地負載著人類無窮無盡的慾望。城堡、莊園、修院、工廠、貧戶、豪宅、道路、機場，人們已需要所劃分區塊，界定疆域，然後再針對共同的事實進行不同的詮釋：資本主義對抗生態保護、都市更新對抗古蹟存續、歷史真相對抗政治正確，所有的抗衡，都讓過往與現代呈現差異，進行辯論，在這一方宣揚征服與勝利，而另一邊必定為迫害與失敗。

唯有大地，億萬年來，沈默、無私，堅定地承擔人世的離合悲歡。

P. 171

可是，就在某一個時刻，你突然明白，生命的本質，就是由行動、創意與苦難交織融合而成。這再明顯不過的道理，卻要在遠離家園後才有更深刻的察覺。

P. 175

『因為自由，選擇太多，反而失去了焦點，無所適從。』

… 『傳統』這個詞就是由『傳遞』與『規矩』複義而成。在複製與貼上的過程中，均質化的社會框架，限制了大部分人對生活的想像。現代的世界，自由但不安全。更多的空間，意味著更多的迷惘，更多的自由，則代表更多的不確定，…

… 阻擾進步的，也許不是『改變』，而是『害怕改變』。

P. 177

尼采進一步告訴我們，我們之所以成為牛馬駱駝，處處受壓迫，感到不自由，是因為我們『自由』地選擇了『不自由』。要掙脫這種近乎詭辯的矛盾，唯一法鬥，就是『真誠地面對真實』。尼采的『超人』是以自己的力量不斷地創造倫理與價值，而對於人生所發生的一切，都能堅毅果敢地接受所有試煉與結果。

P. 198

『以前認為理所當然地走路，失而復得後才發現，生命的存在，就是奇蹟 … 卓越，是一種祝福; 平凡，更是恩典 … 當我再度起身行走，第一個念頭，就是聖雅各之路，我想走路 … 當然，既使是現在，走路仍然是件辛苦的事 … 』

P. 232

從自願性的貧窮到斷捨離，重點並不是『貧窮』或『丟』，而是在於當下的自己。透過理性與感性的交叉辯證後，慢慢地，我們釐清自己真正的需要：生活中『丟掉好可惜』的東西、情感裡『不甘心、不放手』的關係、工作上『沒我不行』的一廂情願、生活中『捨得捨不得』的情線，原來，一個轉身，才發現世界有我，或沒有我，有它，或沒有它 … 其中並沒有什麼不同。

P. 235

朝聖之路，並不會給我們什麼，相對地，它強勢地剝去生活所賦予添加的一切。讓我們執事赤裸的自己，重新定義簡素與奢侈。

真正的簡素，不僅只是生活上的縮衣節食，更是心態上斷捨離後的豁達自如。

P. 272-273

在視覺無邊無際延伸後，一瞬間，我們脆弱的內心受到壯麗的時間與空間震攝威嚇而當機，一方面覺得自己站上頂點，不可一世，另一方面又被『偉大』所湮滅。這種浪漫主義的冥想，正式驅策你我離開家門的持願。

P. 282-283

… 朝聖是時間與空間的鍊金術，經由煉獄之火煎熬之後，所殘餘的，也許就是你我在找尋，稱之為『意義』的東西，可能是某種堅定不移的信念，可能是某種無可取代的想像，某種水盡山窮的了然，或者是柳暗花明後的豁達。所有的領悟，只有自己才接收的到訊息。

P. 289

相較於著重發現與分類的啟蒙時代，十八世紀下半到二十世紀初，可說是時間與意識被無限延伸的紀元。

他們用語言及文字，將久違的時間加工，分門別類，最後壓縮成簡潔易懂的名詞，…

P. 290

文字從岩層的節理中耙梳出故事，編排出具有故事張力的戲劇，地質學將平凡的砂礫譜成史詩，寫成創世與末世的啟示錄。

我們踏的每一步，不僅是空間的位移，同時也踏在流逝的時間之中。